The Green Party of Virginia is a confederation of Green Party Locals committed to grassroots democracy, social justice, non-violence and ecological wisdom. In partnership with the Green Party of the US and Green parties across the globe, these are the four pillars that drive all that we do. Being independent of the two larger parties we are not beholden to anyone but the people of Virginia. For this reason we do not accept corporate contributions.

Results of November 2017 Elections in Virginia from a Greens’ Viewpoint

The 2017 November election in Virginia was a strong wake up call to the Republican Party that its message of intolerance was unacceptable, and many Republican House of delegates lost their jobs as a result (the control of the State House is in doubt at this writing). The Democratic statewide candidates also won big, and with governor elect Northam spending $32 million, much of it from out of state (Virginia Public Access Project.)

It remains to be seen what Northam will do as his platform was short on specifics, and he is a longtime office holder who benefited from heavy corporate campaign funds, including from Dominion Energy and other utilities who gave Northam about $300,000. With regard to the General Assembly delegates up for election, gerrymandering has made it very difficult for non-incumbent majority party candidates to win. In 39 of the 100 districts, there was either only one majority party candidate on the ballot or the winning candidate got over 80 percent of the vote. In essence, General Assembly races are generally very one-sided and the incumbent, Democrat or Republican, faces no serious challenge. A transgender Democrat, Danica Rosem, beat an incumbent Republican in one delegate race in Northern Virginia but was able to raise an extraordinary $308,000, mostly from out of state.

Green candidates’ results in Virginia.

There were five Green nominated candidates for the General Assembly and one Green endorsed candidate for the Arlington County Board of Supervisors.

The candidate for Arlington City Board of Supervisors, Charles McCullough, received 11.9% of the vote.

Jeff Staples in the Portsmouth area running against a Democrat with no Republican in the race got nearly 17 percent of the votes cast. Will King ran in the rural 18th district in Fauquier and Rappahanock countries and got 5 percent. Montigue Magruder running in Richmond area, with no Republican opponent got about 4 percent. Marcus Sutphin and Gerald Anderson, both running in rural, heavily Republican areas, got only 1 percent of the votes cast.

In Arlington, Green-endorsed McCullough got a respectable nearly 12 percent of votes cast and competed against former Green Audrey Clement (24 percent of the vote), and Democrat Eric Gutshall (63 percent of the votes cast). McCullough was a novice candidate, entered the race late in June, and was behind both the machine Democrat who had run twice before and perennial former Green Clement who has run at least 7 times in Arlington for office. McCullough did raise about $12,000 in campaign funds, but was dwarfed by the Democrat’s $57,000. Campaign financial reports can be secured from the State Board of Elections website, and it is quite informative as to who finances our elections http://cfreports.sbe.virginia.gov/

In general it is often easier for a Green to compete at a city council or county board election than competing directly against the two major parties at the General Assembly. Greens of course do not raise the amount of campaign funds that both majority party candidates do, and thus much of their campaigning has to be hard, grass roots, door to door, and direct voter contact. Thus, the best advice for prospective Green candidates is to get your feet wet by first running for your local school board, city council or county board.

The Green Party of Virginia is recognized by the Virginia State Board of Elections. Made up of affiliated locals and at large members, it is the only Green Party in Virginia accredited by the Green Party of the United States(GP-US), which in turn is recognized by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).